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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter September 25, 2018 |
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Jobs
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Webcasts, Conferences Applying ERISA Fiduciary Rules to Health Plans, Services and Products 2019
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Plan Analyst / Compliance Administrator|
[Official Guidance]
63 pages, rev. Oct. 2018, for Processing Year 2019. "[This publication] outlines the communication procedures, transmission formats, business rules and validation procedures for information returns transmitted electronically through the AIR System.... The procedures in this publication should be used when the following information returns are transmitted electronically for TY 2015, TY2016, TY 2017 and TY2018 in PY2019: Form 1094-B ... Form 1095-B... Form 1094-C ... Form 1095-C ... This publication does not contain information or procedures for filing Form 1095-A."
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[Advert.]
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[Official Guidance]
133 pages, rev. Oct. 2018. "The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to all types of external transmitters about composing and successfully transmitting compliant submissions to IRS.... This document covers details on composing and submitting Form s 1094/1095-B and Forms 1094/1095-C by transmitters to IRS. The scope of the document addresses the A2A-application based via SOAP messages exchanged between client and exposed Web Service endpoints and the Web UI-browser-based requiring human initiation."
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Provides Roadmap for Paid Leave Tax Credit "For 2018 only, employers can retroactively amend their leave policies to match the technical requirements of Code section 45S. Bad news: For 2019, the policy changes must be in place before the leave is taken. That means employers must amend their leave policies by December 31, 2018, in order to properly claim the tax credit for both 2018 and 2019."
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[Guidance Overview]
DOL Issues Opinion Letter Regarding FMLA and No-Fault Attendance Policies "[The DOL found that by not counting FMLA leave as active service, the employee neither lost a benefit that accrued prior to the taking of leave nor accrued any additional benefit to which he or she would not otherwise have been entitled. The DOL repeated its longstanding position that such practices do not violate the FMLA 'as long as employees on equivalent types of leave receive the same treatment.' "
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[Guidance Overview]
Michigan Passes Earned Sick Time Act "The Act requires employers to notify employees of their leave rights by April 1, 2019... For employees hired after April 1, 2019, employers may require a waiting period of 90 days before the employee can take paid sick leave, but current employees can presumably begin using sick leave immediately as of April 1, 2019, and may continue to do so as the leave accrues.... [E]mployers will be required to post a notice in the workplace outlining an employee's right to paid sick leave and identifying such leave as protected leave."
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New York Paid Family Leave Premium Rates and Benefits to Increase for 2019 "[T]he 2019 Paid Family Leave premium rate will be 0.153%, allowing maximum annual employee contributions of $107.97. The maximum PFL benefit for 2019 will be 55% of the statewide average weekly wage for up to 10 weeks of qualifying leave."
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DOL and IRS Provide Illumination on Association Health Plans "If an AHP is fully-insured, then state laws may require continuation coverage. These state laws can apply when federal COBRA does not. They can also require coverage beyond what federal COBRA requires.... AHPs have to be member-controlled. This means that employers may end up participating in certain decisions related to AHP administration. This would make them ERISA fiduciaries[.]"
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Little-Known Loophole Allows Some Families to Save Beyond the Max in HSAs "If you and your spouse share a single family HSA and you both are 55+, only one of you can make the $1,000 catch-up contribution to the HSA. The workaround is easy, though. One of you opens a second HSA to which you contribute your $1,000 catch-up contribution.... If you have an adult child still covered by your medical plan (under age 26, per the [ACA]), the opportunity to stash some tax-free cash is even greater."
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Why Wellbeing Should Be at the Top of Your Priority List "A program centered on employee wellbeing can impact more than just healthcare costs ... There is greater opportunity when the program is aligned directly with an organization's goals."
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Bipartisan Federal Legislation Would Limit Surprise Medical Bills "[R]oughly one in five emergency department visits involved care from an out-of-network physician, as well as a not-insignificant share of elective inpatient admissions at in-network facilities. And these surprise bills can be quite large.... Federal action, therefore, may prove necessary to protect people enrolled in self-insured employer health plans, as well as all privately-insured individuals in the majority of states that have not enacted comprehensive surprise billing legislation."
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Benefits in General |
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Lawmakers Continue to Consider Employer Health and Retirement Plan Issues Ahead of Midterms House GOP's 'Tax Reform 2.0' legislation looks to retirement reforms[:] ... The retirement provisions have support from both parties in the House and Senate and alone are likely one of the few discretionary packages that could get passed this year.... Proposals aim to control unexpected medical bills[:] ... Current law requires plans to apply in-network cost-sharing [for emergency care] ... but allows the provider to balance bill the patient. The new proposal sets a more rigid standard for plan payments to providers, which might impact employer costs."
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Selected Discussions |
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HIPAA, HRA and Privacy Notices Employer has a HDHP and provides a self insured HRA administered by a TPA. Employer has a business associate contract with TPA. If employer required to send out a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices to HRA participants even though employer does not receive PHI related to HRA?
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Press Releases |
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The Shopping Center Group Announces Acquisition of Investment Management Firm
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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When Do Workplace Wellness Programs Become Coercive?
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Text of IRS Notice 2018-71: Employer Credit for Paid Family and Medical Leave (PDF)
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Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2018 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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